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Telnet BBS HELP!!

P

purple

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Aug 21, 2010
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Hi everyone, I have an IBM 286 PC that I am trying to set up a Tribbs Telnet BBS. I am at the point where I have internet connectivity through a network card and I can telnet other BBS's. The problem I am having is having Tribbs to talk to the network. Tribbs only recognize com ports 1-4. I need a virtual modem / port redirector to redirect Tribbs to a telnet address. There are plenty of Windows 32 bit virtual modem softwares out there, But remember, I am running this on an old DOS pc without windows. I want to run the BBS from a genuine vintage PC. Any help out there?..

Richard
 
Now, I am just talking off the top of my head here but isn't this exact situation one where you would use a FOSSIL driver?
 
Gottalottastuff, Thanks for the suggestion.
Shadowlord, I don't think its really fossil related, maybe it is??.. I can already access the web with a dos internet browser and all. So I have connectivity from the internal ethernet cad on the 286. I just need a software to tell tribbs that example telnet address, example.dyndns.org is lets say Com port 2. So I want to go into tribbs and say the modem is on com2, and it get data from a telnet address thinking it is com2. I've been searching for a solution to this problem for almost 2 years.
 
Thanks for the link.. I guess it is the same thing. I've been to that page you sent in the link before. Problem is, all those fossil/virtual modem programs are 32 bit windows based, so I can't use them on a dos system. Trying to find a 16 bit dos program to do that those windows softwares do.

Thanks

Richard
 
As I said I am talking off the top of my head. For some reason I thought BNU did telnet redirect but I guess it makes sense it doesn't. You can try running under Win3 maybe? Again completely off the top of my head. My plan for my own BBS is to just run it off of my always on Win2K home server (eventually) under VMWare or DOS Box.
 
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BNU may actually work. I'll do some research. Thanks. I guess my redirecting has to go to the port of the TCP/IP that is created for the network card. If I can tell BNU to foward X063 (network card address) to com 1-4.. it may work...
 
lantronix has a little box that emulates a modem, and converts a IP/Telnet over to a com port. I played with one when I was messing around with my H89 & CPM to bring a bbs online.

You can pick up them up pretty cheap on ebay.

the model was a uds-10
 
Bluethunder, one question. Lets say I have the lantronix Device plugged in to a serial port that is com2.... If I go into tribbs bbs setup and set the modem port for com2, tribbs can send an init string to it to initialize it as a standard modem?
 
pretty much.. It takes AT commands (although a limited set, just ignores the rest). I had to do a little fiddling with the AT init strings to make it pick up, but it did work.
 
I got some great ideas from everyone here, but I would still like to find a way for tribbs to see a virtual modem with my current setup. (Without having to purchase a extra device.) Nobody knows of a fossil or virtual modem that is dos based?.. Netfoss is the closest thing, but is win32. I would love to get this telnet BBS up so you guys can give it a call.
 
I think I may have found a solution!... RLfossil. I can create a virtual comport with this program, and it interacts with the packet driver of the NIC. SO, if I think I can fire up rlfossil configured as a virtual com3 and if tribbs set to com3, I should be able to hit com3 by putting the telnet address and my router redirect it to the 386's dhcp address and have tribbs pickup activity on com3. Am I making sense?.. Gonna try when I get home from work!!!
 
You missed the part about the flux capacitor ...

Seriously - get the Lantronix device, or use another machine as a gateway. It will be much easier to debug and more reliable.
 
Ha... If I had the flux capacitor, I could go back in time and just have my old dialup bbs setup on it and not have to do anything with it. If I didn't have so much time in just getting it to get internet activity, I would try the device. It took like over a year of research and playing around until I got it to the state it's in now. I like a challenge.
 
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purple said:
Ha... If I had the flux capacitor, I could go back in time and just have my old dialup bbs setup on it and not have to do anything with it. If I didn't have so much time in just getting it to get internet activity, I would try the device. It took like over a year of research and playing around until I got it to the state it's in now. I like a challenge.
Click to expand...

I agree, go with it. After all as long as you have the time why not try it. Plus if it doesn't work you can always fall back on the external device. I personally don't like the second machine as a gateway idea. Leaving two machines on all the time to run a BBS visited once in a blue moon is excessive IMHO. However, if you already have an always on machine (a file serve, media server, etc.) it may be do able.
 
Funny I just happened to be browsing this forum and I haven't been here in months. I literally JUST set up a UDS-100 to my old TI-99/4A system (actually its a
Myarc Geneve 9640). I was able to get the system on my LAN relatively easy, then the next day I had it connected to the WAN. VERY easy to use and set-up.
As long as you follow the quick-installation instructions you should be able to get on your LAN very fast. Some settings will need some tweaking but as long as you have the manual (available on the internet).

So I too HIGHLY recommend the UDS 100 (or UDS 10) device. I picked mine up on eBay a couple months ago brand new, never used for $30 + about $10 shipping.

And if you asked why I wanted to get a TI-99 online, my goal of doing this was to set up a vintage computer type BBS focusing on the TI and Geneve. It just went on the internet yesterday but if anyone wants to check it out out of curiosity the address is
telnet://heatwavebbs.com
 
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